Last week the North Carolina General Assembly passed a conference report, also referred to as a mini budget that includes $463 million to clear the waitlist of families that have applied for the Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program and provide voucher money for those attending private schools. 

After multiple rounds of public opposition to proposed changes to Sylva’s panhandling ordinance, the board decided to dismiss the changes and leave the ordinance as it is written. 

After more than a decade of leadership in Macon County, Derek Roland announced last week that he intends to resign his position as county manager.

Jackson County Schools is taking a stab at a traditional middle school and applying for a state grant to fund the potential project.  

“It is just the right thing to do for our kids,” said Superintendent Dana Ayers in a presentation to the Jackson County Commission last week. 

Finding enough bus drivers to operate all necessary routes has become a common issue for school systems across North Carolina and districts in the westernmost part of the state are not immune.

Members of the Blue Ridge School community showed up to the Jackson County Board of Education’s August meeting to express concerns regarding the state of the school. 

The Jackson County Commission has approved a new version of the Fontana Regional Library interlocal agreement that contains some significant changes to the revisions previously put forth by Macon County. 

Macon County commissioners are considering the adoption of a farmland protection ordinance that would not only orchestrate cooperation between county government and farmers in the region but also allow for more grant funding opportunities for the county. 

Jackson County Schools will continue to increase its capacity for early childhood education with the opening of an infant/ toddler classroom at Scott Creek School this fall. 

The Sylva Town Council will vote next month on changes to its fee schedule regarding costs for renting out Bridge Park.

“I think it still keeps the fees reasonable for renting that facility,” said Town Manager Paige Dowling. 

Evy Leibfarth may as well have been born on the river. Her parents met while working as raft guides on the Nantahala and had her on the water with them before she could even hold a paddle.

The Macon County Commission decided last week in a split vote to fund a $200,000 request from the school system that will ensure all students in Macon County receive free lunch for the coming school year.

Macon County approved revisions to its soil erosion and sedimentation control ordinance despite an outpouring of opposition from the public — so much so that not everyone who had signed up to speak on the issue at the Aug. 13 meeting was able to do so. 

Macon County is one step closer in the long march toward a new high school after commissioners approved financing for the more than $135 million-project last week. 

New changes are being proposed to Sylva’s panhandling ordinance, and although a public hearing is not required for the Sylva Town Board to amend the ordinance that governs its streets and sidewalks, the town will hold a public hearing on the proposed changes next month after one board member urged the town to do so. 

Last week, the Sylva Town Board approved rules and procedures for the new Economic Development Advisory Committee, an advisory committee to the Economic Development Director and to the Sylva Town Board of Commissioners. 

Macon County Schools has spent the better part of a year undergoing a strategic planning process that charts a course for the school system’s future. 

Macon County Schools decided last month to maintain a policy that had been in place — but until now had been enforced sporadically — that bars for-profit entities from using school facilities. 

In the face of rising prices for school lunches, the Macon County Board of Education is set to request funding from the county commission that would ensure all students in Macon County receive free lunch for the coming school year. 

The Macon County Board of Education approved revisions to student and staff handbooks for several schools at its July 22 meeting, with the most significant changes coming for students at Franklin High School. 

After the sunset of COVID-era child care stabilization grants, Macon County Schools will have to increase costs for both Pre-K and after school care in the coming 2024-25 school year. 

Macon and Jackson County commissions signed resolutions this month enabling the governments to receive funding from the Kroger opioid settlement, the third settlement of its kind for both counties. 

The Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted this month to commit to funding construction and renovation of Fairview School, which was recently identified as the system’s top capital needs priority due to overcrowding and outdated design. 

A historic partnership intended to connect high schoolers with future employment opportunities and further economic development in Macon County has been solidified after commissioners approved funding for the Macon PULSE program this month. 

After an outpouring of opposition from members of the public over the course of several county commission meetings, Macon County Commissioners chose to table a vote on the flood damage prevention, soil erosion and sedimentation control and water supply watershed protection ordinances for meetings over the next several months. 

Anyone who has ever found themselves looking at a public map — from a trailhead to a mall directory — has seen that little arrow or star or red dot accompanied by the words “you are here.”  

Every student in Haywood and Jackson County Schools can expect no cost breakfast and lunch in the coming school year, and Macon County is not far behind in meeting that mark as well. 

The Jackson County Board of Education will look a little different at its next meeting after Chair Elizabeth Cooper departed and incoming board member Gayle Woody was sworn in last month. 

The Jackson County Board of Education has signed a resolution urging the North Carolina General Assembly to prioritize public education over funding an expansion to the private school voucher system. 

The Macon County School Board has voted to require students to play high school sports at the school where they are enrolled beginning in the 2025-26 school year, meaning Macon Early College and Bartram Academy students will no longer be eligible for athletics at Franklin High School. 

The Town of Sylva is looking to create an economic development board made up of business owners outside the downtown area after Mayor Johnny Phillips presented the idea to Sylva commissioners earlier this month. 

Stakeholders around Western North Carolina recognize the end of COVID-era child care stabilization funding and the broader lack of available child care resources as a multilayered impediment to economic development.

After several lengthy discussions, Macon County Commissioners approved the fiscal year 2024-25 budget by a split vote with a couple of last-minute changes to the proposed document. 

The Development Finance Initiative has continued to work on feasibility analyses for affordable housing in Jackson County since its housing needs assessment presented in February showed a dire need for affordable housing.

Jackson County is set to approve its budget next week, funding county operations for the coming fiscal year without a tax increase for residents. 

Charles Darwin was many things, but in the classic sense of the word, he was not an artist. Lacking in the ways of visual art, and with miserably bad handwriting, the scientist eventually enlisted the help of his sons in creating utilitarian illustrations of the plants and animals with which he worked.  

After the UNC Board of Governors approved a new policy on diversity and inclusion within the University of North Carolina, Western Carolina University will have until Sept. 1 to make a plan for compliance with a policy that could spell the end of some diversity- and inclusion-focused positions. 

Despite increasing cost estimates, Macon County is in a good financial position to move forward with both the Franklin High School project and the Highlands School project.

The Town of Sylva Board of Commissioners signed a proclamation last week declaring June to be LGBTQ Pride Month, just weeks after the board denied Sylva Pride’s application for its annual march.

Macon County will be able to cover all its upcoming capital projects in the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget without a property tax increase, allowing it to maintain the lowest tax rate in North Carolina. 

Following the resignation of Natalie Newman from the Sylva Town Board in April, commissioners have appointed Jonathan Brown to fill the vacant seat. 

Proposed revisions to Macon County’s flood damage prevention, soil erosion and sedimentation control, and water supply watershed protection ordinances have resulted in a flood of input from the public, many of whom cite the deadly Peeks Creek disaster of 2004 as a reason to keep strict restrictions in place. 

Macon County Commissioners already decided that the quarter-cent sales tax referendum would be back on the ballot this November, but at its May 14 meeting, the board expanded the opportunities for how that money can be spent if voters approve the measure. 

Thanks to a partnership between the Macon County Economic Development Commission and the Career and Technical Education department, Macon County high school students can look forward to the opportunity for paid internships next school year. 

In its final week of classes, Western Carolina University became the subject of a video that went viral on social media in which a trans woman was filmed inside a women’s bathroom on campus. 

Neither Jackson County nor Swain County commissions have agreed to approve the changes Macon County proposed to the Fontana Regional Library agreement, citing legal and logistical concerns.

The Town of Sylva will not see a tax increase for the coming budget cycle, but with work looming on N.C. 107, staff are preparing for falling revenues over the next two to four years. 

After a botanical survey identified the location of several invasive species in Jackson County’s Pinnacle Park, work has begun to manage the ecologically threatening pests. 

The Catamount School, a laboratory school operating on the campus of Smoky Mountain High School, will relocate to the campus of Western Carolina University next school year after Jackson County Public Schools approved a relocation plan due to the need for more space at Smoky Mountain High School.